Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 125 /Tuesday, June 30, 1998 / Proposed Rules 35561

the Fisheries Survival Fund, to

determine where in the Georges Bank

closed areas scallops are large in size

and number and where primary

groundfish are more susceptible to

scallop gear, to better target and

optimize scallop fishing while still

maximizing recovery of primary

groundfish stocks and habitat. The

Petitioner requests that when the data

collection has been completed,

emergency action be taken to open

portions of Georges Bank currently

closed to scallop fishing, which would

be balanced by closing some currently

open areas.

DATES: Comments on the petition are

requested on or before August 31, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the petition for

rulemaking are available upon request

from Gary C. Matlock, Ph.D., Director,

Office of Sustainable Fisheries, NMFS,

1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring,

MD 20910. Comments on the petition

should be directed to Dr. Gary C.

Matlock at the above address. Please

mark the outside of the envelope

‘‘Rotational Opening of Scallop Closed

Areas.’’

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mark R. Millikin, 301–713–2341.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

fishery affected by this petition for

rulemaking is the Atlantic sea scallop

fishery, which is managed under the

Fishery Management Plan for the

Atlantic Sea Scallop Fishery (FMP). The

Secretary has management authority for

this species group under the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and

Management Act. The management unit

for this fishery is Atlantic sea scallop

(Placopecten magellanicus) in U.S.

waters of the Atlantic Ocean from North

Carolina to Newfoundland along the

continental shelf of North America.

Implementing regulations for the fishery

are found at 50 CFR part 648, subpart

D.

The scallop advisory report issued

from the 23rd Stock Assessment

Workshop in March 1997 stated that the

current spawning stock biomass (SSB) is

at a low level and the level of landings

is determined primarily by variations in

the number of recruits entering the

fishery. On Georges Bank, abundance

and fishing mortality are at moderate

levels, but this results from

approximately one-half of the region

currently being closed to fishing via the

groundfish closed areas to protect

depleted stocks of cod, haddock, and

yellowtail flounder. Scallop dredges

were included in the fishing ban owing

to their propensity to catch juvenile

flatfish and other species whose stocks

had collapsed. The scallop stock is

rebuilding in these closed areas, but

elsewhere on Georges Bank fishing

mortality is greater than the current

overfishing threshold. Overfishing for

Atlantic sea scallops is defined in the

FMP as the fishing mortality rate greater

than the rate that would maintain an

SSB that is 5 percent of the SSB level

that would exist without fishing. The

report further states that scallops in the

Mid-Atlantic region are at a low level of

abundance, are overexploited, and are

declining. The large 1990 and 1991 year

classes have been overfished and

incoming recruitment is among the

lowest on record. Based on high fishing

mortality rates, low stock size, and lack

of significant recruitment, the

management advice from the Northeast

Stock Assessment Workshop is that

fishing effort should be reduced

immediately and significantly in the

Mid-Atlantic region to preserve SSB and

to improve yield per recruit. Recent

results of the 1997 NMFS survey

confirm that trends in abundance and

biomass in both the Mid-Atlantic and

Georges Bank regions are decreasing.

The Petitioner states that the Georges

Bank groundfish closures, which have

been in effect since December 1994, are

causing an imbalance in fishing effort,

thereby making scallop rebuilding more

difficult to achieve. He is requesting that

information collected from the Georges

Bank area on the scallop resource begin

by July 1998, after which emergency

action should be instituted to open areas

of Georges Bank through limited

rotational openings, coupled with

closures of certain portions of currently

open areas. He states that NMFS

analyses have already concluded that

such rebalancing should help scallop

stocks and moderate the worst of the

impending economic effects for the

scallop fishermen.

NMFS requests interested persons to

submit comments on the petition for

rulemaking submitted by the Petitioner.

NMFS will consider this information in

determining whether to proceed with

the development of regulations

requested by the petition.

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.

Dated: June 24, 1998.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98–17340 Filed 6–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

50 CFR Part 660

[I.D. 061998B]

Western Pacific Fishery Management

Council; Public Hearing

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meeting.

SUMMARY: The Western Pacific Fishery

Management Council (Council) will

hold a public hearing to discuss

proposed measures to address the

requirements of the Magnuson-Stevens

Conservation and Management Act

(Magnuson-Stevens Act) through an

amendment to all of the Council’s

fishery management plans that will

address new provisions and definitions.

DATES: The meeting will be held on July

20, 1998, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held in

the conference room of the Western

Pacific Fishery Management Council,

1164 Bishop St., Suite 1400, Honolulu,

HI, 96813.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director, at

(808) 522–8220.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The

public is invited to discuss and make

recommendations to the Council on the

provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act

pertaining to essential fish habitat,

bycatch, fishing sectors, fishing

communities, and definitions of

overfishing.

Special Accommodations

This meeting is physically accessible

to people with disabilities. Requests for

sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to

Kitty M. Simonds, 808–522–8220

(voice) or 808–522–8226 (fax), at least 5

days prior to the meeting date.

Dated: June 24, 1998.

Bruce C. Morehead,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 98–17341 Filed 6–29–98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–F